Carson catches Trump in Iowa

Donald Trump and Ben Carson are tied for the lead of Republican presidential candidates in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, according to a Monmouth University poll released on Monday.

The survey found Trump and Carson taking 23 percent support each. 

{mosads}It’s the first survey of Iowa released this month not to show Trump all alone at the top, and further evidence of Carson’s polling strength.

Retired neurosurgeon Carson has the best favorability rating in the field, with 81 percent saying they have a positive view of him, against only 6 percent who said they view him unfavorably.

While billionaire businessman Trump leads in the poll among Tea Party conservatives and men, Carson leads among Evangelicals and women.

“After more than a month of Trump winning virtually every Republican demographic group, we’ve finally got a little variation in voting blocs to talk about,” said Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray.

The Monmouth survey is the third consecutive poll of Iowa to find Trump and Carson atop the field. The two men are also in first and second place nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

The survey shows the degree to which political outsiders and anti-establishment candidates are dominating in the early stages of the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Former business executive Carly Fiorina is in third place in the poll with 10 percent support, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 9 percent support.

Sixty-six percent of Iowa Republicans polled said the country needs a president from outside the government to bring a fresh perspective to Washington.

No other candidates reached double-digit support in the poll.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker continued his long slide, falling into fifth place with only 7 percent support.

Walker led the polls in Iowa for months before Trump’s rise. The Hawkeye State is critical of Walker’s path to the nomination, but he has shed 15 points there since the same poll from July.

“These results mark a significant shake-up in the leaderboard from Monmouth’s Iowa poll taken before the first debate,” Murray said. “Carson and, to a lesser extent, Fiorina have surged, while Walker has faded into the background.”

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush came in at 5 percent support. He has one of the worst favorability ratings in the field in Iowa, with only 32 percent viewing him favorably, against 51 percent who view him unfavorably.

Rounding out the field are Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 4 percent each, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul at 3 percent. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Penn.), the past two winners of the Iowa caucuses, each took 2 percent support.

The Monmouth University survey of 405 Iowa Republicans was conducted between Aug. 27 and Aug. 30 and has a 4.9 percentage point margin of error.